


Remember the Comfort

by megan_waffles



Series: X Company - Season 1 [1]
Category: X Company (TV)
Genre: Aurora is grieving, Episode: s01e01 Pilot, F/M, I'm utter and absolute trash for these two, Megan can't tag for shit, Rene is dead, Synesthesia, alfora, alfred's a cinnamon roll, peppermint tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-30
Updated: 2016-01-30
Packaged: 2018-05-17 04:28:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5854246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megan_waffles/pseuds/megan_waffles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It starts with a touch. He swears he doesn't mean anything by it (he's just in denial).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Remember the Comfort

He brings her tea.

Her team is still in the lounge celebrating (but he knows they're mourning) and Alfred's left leaning against the hutch, surrounded by loud people making loud noises and all he see is an unsettling mix of purple. He doesn't belong there and he knows the others will see it too once he begins his field training.

Aurora leaves the room with a shaky smile that poorly disguises her sorrow. She squeezes his left arm briefly on her way out to say goodnight and he watches her as she leaves. Alfred turns his attention back to the group but it doesn't feel right.

The man they lost, René, had been the leader of the team. With just a quick look at the team, you might assume that Neil would be the second-in-command, the one to take over now that René is gone. But after watching them interact for the last hour, it becomes evident that Aurora is the new leader. It's an unspoken fact, and it's completely undisputed. She's the one who was with René during the beginning of _La Résistance_. She's the one who keeps Neil and Tom from tearing each other apart and the one who has the patience and the heart to help keep the kid, Harry, from doing something he thinks is right but would destroy him inside. She'll be working overtime tomorrow to stop him from destroying himself by carrying the unnecessary guilt of René's death.

Without her, the team looked fine and functional. But they weren't the same without her there to pull their ears.

Alfred's on his way to his new sleeping quarters when he hears a broken sigh. He follows the noise further down the hall and around the corner to the first door on the right. He doesn't need to knock on the door to know that it's Aurora. He could tell it was her by the sound of her heartbreak, gently crying his name over and over again: _René, René, René..._  


Unlike most grown men around his age, he's never known what to do to help a crying woman before. He supposes that if he'd had left the house more frequently before the war, if he hadn't let his synesthesia control him, if he had tried to be brave the way he's so desperately trying now, then maybe he would've known what to do.

Alfred raises his hand to knock on the door, but he stops himself. She barely knows him. All she knows for certain is that René has just died and now she's got a new member on her team to worry about. She hasn't even found out about the synesthesia yet.

He turns around and heads towards the kitchen to get himself a glass of water before he turns in.

Without knowing where anything was in the kitchen, he resorts to having to open all of the cabinets to find a glass. The first cupboard he opens holds preserves: soups, jars, and jams. He closed it and opened the next. Inside, there was sugar, honey, and tea. Dozens of different kinds of tea. But all could smell was the peppermint.

Smell and memories. It wasn't uncommon. A certain smell has the power to activate a specific memory within the subconscious.

He remembers the first time his father lost his temper because Alfred was so at ease with his condition, his _difference_. He had sat in his room that night and tried to keep quiet while the tears slid quietly down his face. When he thought he heard footsteps approaching the door, he wiped the tears of his face and sliped under the covers, pretending to be asleep. His mother came in with a small cup of tea. Peppermint tea (his home used to always smell faintly of peppermint before his father scared his mother away. Before his father pointed a gun at his own head and missed). She left it on his bedside table, and kissed his head softly before turning around and closing the door softly.

Alfred smiles sadly. She's been gone for half his life, but he still wonders about her sometimes.

He ignites the stove against the east wall, fills the kettle, and waits for the water to boil. Once the shrill whistle of the kettle reaches his ears, he pours the steaming water into a white mug and places a peppermint teabag in the mug.

When he arrives at Aurora's room, he raises his hand to knock on the door again. It still seems wrong for him to bother her, even just to give her the drink. Instead he places the warm mug outside the door, knocks, and ducks behind the corner into the other hallway.

She opens the door and says "Hello?" so quietly he swears he can feel his heart breaking for her. He could hear the sadness and the tears in her broken voice.

She says "Hello?" again, and for a minute he worries she won't see the mug. She suddenly lets out a light laugh and he can hear her picking the mug up off the floor.

She says "Thank you," quietly and Alfred swears he can hear her smiling as she shuts the door.


End file.
